This comment was posted to reddit on Oct 05, 2019 at 3:42 pm and was deleted within 22 hour(s) and 13 minutes.

The IRS Admits It Doesn’t Audit the Rich Because It’s Too Hard

Yeah based on that court case I have zero confidence in the IRS' ability to audit rich people. Hell, I don't even think they understand the complex nature of the techniques being used to legally avoid taxes.

The most famous example of blatant tax dodging currently is as you pointed out - Renaissance Technologies. They are a quantitative investment company trading on the global financial markets. The IRS says it owes them around $7bn in taxes (likely a lot more) from the periods 2000 - 2015.

They have been battling it out in court since 2014 to no avail. Firms like these have some of the sharpest legal minds in the world analyzing their transactions.

And that's just one example. In short - IRS has no chance. The only way is to rewrite some of the rules that allow this kind of loophole to exist in the first place, which can prove to be a herculean task.